News Briefs - September, 2001
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1225 Schedule For This Saturday...
According to Dave Williamson, steam locomotive 1225 will depart Owosso at 9:00 am on Saturday, and arrive Mt. Pleasant 12:00 pm. It will depart Mt. Pleasant at 12:30 p.m. and arrive at Clare at 1:30 p.m.. It will leave Clare at 2:00 p.m. arriving back in Mt. Pleasant at 3:00 p.m. It will depart at 3:30 p.m., arriving at Owosso on 6:30 p.m. There will be no run (as previously planned) on Sunday. The tour is sponsored by Lake Central Railroad Tours.
GTW 6325's first revenue run...
Former Grand Trunk U-3-b #6325 carried her first revenue/Excursion run on Saturday Sept. 22 from Dennison, OH to Columbus, OH. She performed GREAT! The only glitch to the entire day was a valve problem with the auxiliary tender causing them to have to take on water in Newark before arriving in Columbus. This delayed the return trip only one hour. I spoke to some people I know who rode the trip and they were very pleased. Everyone was impressed with the performance of this locomotive. Originally scheduled to pull the train from Columbus, the Ohio Central was unable to make a scheduled wye turn in Newark due to track conditions. With the locomotive facing west they were left to pull the train back to Columbus on the return trip. One must give proper credit to the Grand Trunk/Canadian National, those U-3-b's are mighty fine ladies! From Greg Schultz, Columbus, Ohio.
When will BO Tower close?
Not soon, despite constant rumors that have cropped up over the last twenty years. Greg Peet, a Kalamazoo resident gives some logical insight to the question: "Among other duties, the BO Tower operators drive to and hand-throw switches at Gibson (to send trains north to Grand Rapids) and the Harrison Street crossover (track 1 to track 2). It would seem to me that these switches would have to be automated before the tower would be closed. Otherwise trains would have to stop to do this, and a LOT of crossings would be blocked. I've seen no signs of this automation yet."
Locomotives to aid World Trade Center Disaster?
General Motors has offered nine LLPX locomotives to the disaster relief effort in New York City as power generation. Whether or not that will come to pass is unknown, but LLPS is geared to move and equip the locomotives for either site generation or supplemental el4ectrical power directly into the northeast power grid. Everything is currently in place and ready to go if called upon. Additionally, CSXT has a group of third-rail cleared locomotives on hold at Selkirk, NY available for disaster relief if necessary.
Good advice about railroad security...
We should all be even careful in our rail-fanning from here on out. After last week's incidents, railroads are going to be VERY tight about non-employees on their property (I understand that Union Pacific has already banned non-employees from its property). If you want to railfan, stay off railroad property (public property, like a sidewalk, would be best) unless you have made prior arrangements with railroad officials. Even then, be prepared to explain what you are doing and produce identification to local police or railroad police (whose jurisdiction, as we know, doesn't stop at the property line). On the other hand, we should keep our eyes peeled (as always) for suspicious characters around railroad property and contact the police (railroad or local) as necessary. From Bob Thatcher, President, Bluewater Michigan Chapter, NRHS.
CN CEO Takes to the rails as air travel to Chicago is not available...
Dave Williamson of the Blue Water Chapter reports that CN official E. Hunter Harrison, Canadian National's executive vice-president and chief operating officer, took a 2-car office car special from Canada to Chicago for a meeting on Thursday. WB train was X0-11 and EB on Thursday night was X0-12. It reportedly had two business cars (possibly a sleeper and a club/observation car with a rounded end) and a pair of engines. It traveled through Lapeer at passenger timetable speed.
Tilden workers recalled
early (August 15th article)...
ISHPEMING — Laid-off workers at the Tilden Mine are returning to the job
at least two weeks earlier than expected. Repairs on the mine’s
kiln have been completed ahead of schedule, prompting Cleveland-Cliffs,
Inc. to shorten the layoff. The company, which manages the mine,
had planned to keep the mine down until the first week of September. The
shutdown was announced July 26. Full operations will resume
Sunday, said Don Ryan, CCI district manager for public affairs.
“What it means is, the repair is done. It was done entirely with Tilden
Mine personnel. It was done well. It was done more rapidly than
anticipated,” Ryan said. The shutdown affected about 250
employees, Ryan said. CCI is asking those employees to return to their
pre-shutdown crew schedules beginning with the first Sunday shift, which
begins Saturday night. Anyone who’s uncertain about when to report is
asked to contact the mine personnel department. Tilden officials
said on July 26 that one of its two kilns was being taken out of service
due to a weld fatigue fracture that needed repair. Since then, the mine
has operated at about 60 percent of capacity. The mine also was
shut down for six weeks earlier this year. Combined with that shutdown,
Tilden’s production for this year is projected at 6.6 million tons, down
from the originally planned 7.8 million, Ryan said. “At this time,
no other production changes are anticipated,” Ryan said. “However,
that’s always subject to review, especially in the current business
environment. But what that means now is that, unless there is a change,
the Tilden will continue at capacity for the rest of the year.”
(From the Marquette Mining Journal Ishpeming Bureau.)
Amtrak Zepher Utah wreck damage estimates...
P42DC 163 - $200,000
P42DC 151 - $150,000
Baggage 1176 - $150,000
Transition Sleeper 39044 - $75,000
Sleeping Car 32011 - $8,000
Diner 38059 - $10,000
Coach 32023 - $4,000
All cars of train derailed, except the last car which was a box car. Of the derailed cars, all wheels were off the track. Info from Dave Williamson of the Blue Water Chapter, NRHS.
Norfolk Southern Issues Service Alert as a result of bombing
Norfolk Southern Service Alert: Operations Suspended or Limited in Northeast: In cooperation with local and federal authorities and agencies, Norfolk Southern has temporarily suspended operations in the North Jersey shared asset area. Operations are also suspended or very limited along most of the northeastern corridor, including Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Newark and the Delmarva Peninsula. Customers with traffic moving from, to, or through these areas should expect delays. Norfolk Southern continues to monitor its operations in this region and will provide updates as necessary.
Steam engine to be relocated to Grand Rapids...
An article in the Grand
Rapids Press reports that a 1924 Alco (Cooke Works, Patterson, NJ) 2-6-0
will be moved this fall from Jackson, Missouri to a real-estate
development in Grand Rapids, Michigan to serve as an ornament at an
industrial park.
This engine was reportedly built for the Virginia Central, but was
resold by Alco to the Arkansas Railroad at Star City, AR. At some
point, it was sold to the Augusta RR at Augusta, Arkansas and finished
its service there. Condemned by the ICC inspector in the
late-1950s, it ended up in a park at Paragould, Arkansas in 1958,
sitting there in bad shape until sent to the St LIM&S tourist RR at
Jackson, MO in the late-1980s. It also was used at the Stone
Mountain stone quarry in Georgia before that site became a tourist
attraction, probably before it went to Arkansas.
No. 300 is basically identical to many of those those sent to Cuba and
other shortlines. (From Mark Tomlonson on the MichiganRailroads
list).
The engine was acquired by developer Robert Grooters for $25,000 for the
"Union Station" industrial park at northbound US-131 and Hynes Avenue
S.W., south of downtown Grand Rapids. The engine and tender will be
moved by Jeff DuPilka of West Shore Services (a moving and rigging firm
that has relocated several large items of railroad equipment by road,
including the 90-foot turntable from New Buffalo, Michigan for the new
Steam Railroading Institute at Owosso, Michigan).
The engine will be taken to Allendale, Michigan for cosmetic work, where
it is reported it will be "restored to resemble the one that leads a
train at Walt Disney World."
Overheard on the Scanner...
Overheard on the scanner this weekend: "Amtrak 350...approach...Dairy Queen... err...approach... one-forty-four." I've often remarked that Kalamazoo isn't Heaven, but there is a Dairy Queen next to the railroad tracks! (From Greg Peet, on the list).
Greg also reports that MDOT
is putgting up temporary fencing on the west side of the railroad tracks
at Western Michigan University to encourage football fans to cross at
the designated intersections. The area also has "high speed
trains" posted at crossings - all part of "higher" speed rail that is
promised (for someday).
CP Rail derailed about 15
cars in the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel Saturday afternoon or early evening
(September
2nd). As of Sunday afternoon, Hulcher from Toledo was on the scene
attempting to re-rail the cars. In photo at right, Hulcher crews
are loading re-railing flanges into a hi-railer which will proceed into
the EB tunnel tube.
CSX Trackage Rights Exemption.
Surface Transportation Board
Finance Docket No. 34083. CSX Transportation, Inc.-Trackage Rights
Exemption-Canadian National Railway Company; Grand Trunk Western
Railroad Incorporated; and St. Clair Tunnel Company
Canadian National Railway Company (CN) and its subsidiaries, Grand Trunk
Western Railroad Incorporated (GTW) and St. Clair Tunnel Company (St.
Clair), have agreed to grant trackage rights to CSX Transportation, Inc.
(CSXT) as follows:
(1) Over GTW's Tappen Interlocking, at Port Huron, MI, between milepost
332.3 and milepost 334.20.
(2) Over St. Clair's tracks between milepost 61.14 and milepost 59.98,
via the Sarnia Tunnel.
(3) Over CN's tracks between milepost 61.69 and milepost 61.14, in Port
Huron, between milepost 59.98 and milepost 58.90, at Sarnia, Ontario,
and thence northwesterly over CN's Port Edward Spur, Sarnia, between
milepost 59.20 = 0.0 and milepost 1.41 to a connection with CSXT's track
at Sarnia, a total distance of approximately 6.3 miles.
The transaction is scheduled to be consummated on August 27th, 2001. The
trackage rights will allow CSXT to achieve greater operating
efficiencies by allowing it to reach its lines in Sarnia.
Bob Topping reports that the
Consumers Power B.C. Cobb Plant in Muskegon, MI has contacted CSX about
shipping 1.5M tons of Western coal per year. The State and
Federal Government have been on Consumer's case for quite a while about
switching over to western coal, and it will only be done by rail.
Western coal is controlled by BNSF, who will not put the coal on a boat.
The State and the Federal Government will assist CSX in the 130 million
dollar project of track upgrades and the installation of a new yard with
1.5 to 2 miles of track. The coal department of the railroad will be
coming to the Cobb Plant, to work on an unloading system and layout. The
yard that will hold the coal will be installed north of the current CSX
yard. It is not yet known whether CSX will install the 13 miles of
track between Fremont and White Cloud or upgrade the Ferrysburg swing
bridge near Grand Haven. The current condition of the swing bridge is
not able to endure the constant pounding of a 100 car coal train.
This project will obviously take a few years. This information was
obtained from the individual who answered the phone call from the Cobb
Plant at CSX's North Yard Office. The B.C. Cobb Plant will may not get
coal via ships any longer.
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